


this love will keep us

by ElasticElla



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character(s) of Color, F/F, Manipulation, Podfic Available, Temporary Character Death, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25273783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Nile wakes up, reaches for her throat instantly. Her fingers meet a bandage, confusion and gratitude tangling together.
Relationships: Nile Freeman/Quynh | Noriko
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26
Collections: Battleship 2020, Battleship 2020 - Yellow Team





	this love will keep us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GlassesOfJustice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassesOfJustice/gifts).



> title from frank ocean's godspeed

Nile wakes up, reaches for her throat instantly. Her fingers meet a bandage, confusion and gratitude tangling together. She was so sure she’d reached the end, felt her throat falling apart. Had sent up a final prayer and thoughts to her mom, tried not to focus on Dizzy’s panic. 

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” 

Nile looks over to see a nurse, looks more like a guardian angel with the halo of sunlight behind her. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“How am I alive?” 

The nurse’s smile softens, “A lot of experimental stitching, medicines, and grafting. In fact, now that you’re awake we need to take you to London for further tests. Merrick is highly invested in your well-being.” 

Dread thickens in her stomach, “I feel fine, really. Thank you but–”

“Not a question, an order,” Officer Williams barks from the corner. 

“Yes Ma’am.”

“We’ll have you cleared and back in action as soon as possible,” the nurse reassures her. 

.

Dizzy sits on her bunk as she packs, Jordan across the way and tossing a hacky sack one-handed. 

“And the Merrick group or whatever just gets to take you?” Dizzy asks with a frown. 

Nile shrugs, pocketing her ipod, “They used a ton of experimental stuff on me. I don’t want my head rolling off because I didn’t visit.” 

“I got Sara to show me the list, they spent around fifty thousand on you easy,” Jordan says. 

Her eyes bug out, and Dizzy grabs the predictable tease making kissy faces, “Oooh visiting Sara again?” 

Jordan rolls her eyes, “Your neck still hurt?” 

“Nah.”

“They must have given you the good drugs,” Dizzy says. 

“Must’ve,” she agrees, double checking everything is packed. 

Dizzy gives her a hug, “Come back as quick as you can, yeah?” 

She nods, “Stay safe.” 

Jordan grips her shoulder, walks her out. “Don’t let them keep you too long.” 

.

The trip to the plane is over all too quick, she still can’t believe this is how she’s leaving. 

She’s coming back, she thinks, doesn’t quite believe the words. 

It’s a small plane, the nurse and pilot already on board. The nurse clasps her shoulder, “Nile, can I call you Nile?” 

She nods jerkily, butterflies in her stomach that nearly compel her to say something stupid flirtatious like ‘you can call me whatever you want’. 

She smiles, “Nile, it’s a long flight. Please try to get some sleep, I’ll go tell the pilot we’re set for take off.” 

“Okay, um, what’s your name ma’am?” 

A light laugh tinkles out of her, “Quynh.”

Try as she might to obey the nurse’s orders, it isn’t until after take off and they’ve been flying smoothly for an hour that she’s able to sleep. Her dreams are odd and awful, full of people being filled with bullets. 

She wakes up in a cold sweat, the nurse shaking her. 

“Nile! We need to go!” 

The plane shakes as she disentangles herself from the seat belt and blankets, “What’s going on?” 

“Pilot’s dead, we’re jumping.” 

“ _What_!” 

Quynh opens the emergency door and shoves her out before she can so much as grab a parachute, screaming as she falls. Quynh jumps as well – not just a murderous nurse – and the plane goes down in the distance. 

Nile flips over in the air, wants to see it coming. Feels impossible that a _nurse_ threw her out of a plane, hell that her neck healed up so quickly, maybe she’s really in a coma somewhere. Maybe she’s rushing towards an awakening instead of death, maybe – 

She screams as the ground approaches fast, knows no more. 

.

Nile wakes up at the bottom of a hill, sun setting over the top. With such tranquility and surrounding greenery, for the briefest moment, she believes herself to be dead. 

“Come Nile, we must move.” 

Spinning around, she reaches for a gun she isn’t carrying, glaring at the woman. “What the absolute hell were you thinking?” 

“We need cover. You’re still known in this time.” 

“I’m known- what? No, I’m not going anywhere until you explain what’s going on here.” 

“We don’t have time for this,” she says with a sigh, and then pain explodes through her chest. 

.

Nile wakes up on the ground of a small stone room, sparse furnishings and no decorations. Quynh sits against the opposite wall, is currently cleaning a gun and – 

“You shot me!” 

Quynh’s lips twitch, “Yeah, and? Not like it stuck.” 

She drops her chin, looking down at her chest, but there’s no bullet hole, not even a scratch. The only proof it happened is a hole in her shirt and a splotch of dried blood. Nile pokes the area, not even a tinge of pain. 

“How – how is this happening?” 

“I don’t know. A few are given the gift, sometimes it stops after many, many years.” 

“Why us? Are there more?” 

Her lips purse, “You will dream of the others. Of their… violent disregard for mortals’ lives. They left me trapped for centuries drowning at the ocean’s bottom. Centuries of dying alone. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.” 

“How horrible,” Nile murmurs, remembers the flashes of her dream. Of four slaughtering their way through a dark town it seemed, remorseless. 

Her fingers brush up against her cross, and the question comes back, “But why me?” 

Quynh’s smile turns wry, “Couldn’t tell you. Perhaps it’s fate or faith – whatever the cause, you are the chosen one.” 

“Hah, I’m not like – that’s a bit much.” 

She raises an eyebrow, “The first chosen in hundreds of years, there is a reason it is you. And we have all the time to discover it.” 

Nile swallows, cheeks burning, “Do you have a theory?” 

Quynh places the gun down, pats her lap, “Come here.” 

Arousal slams through her, and Nile reminds herself Quynh is immortal too. Is of uncertain age, at the very least half a millennia older, and maybe it’s not like that from her time. (She never did read the girls back in school right, and they were born in the same century.) 

She crawls forward, the gentle scraping of her knees worth the way Quynh’s eyes light up, heavy on her form. 

“To make the world better is the proper theory,” Quynh says, reaching her hands out. 

Nile takes them, knees knocking as she sits, crosses her legs as well. “But what’s yours?” 

Quynh licks her lips, peppermint breath fanning over her. “To make my world better.” 

Nile kisses her, Quynh’s grip tightening, and she doesn’t care if this is a bad idea or if they only just met or if anything. Quynh feels incredible, tastes incredible, and that’s what matters. 

Quynh’s hands are like twin rivers, rushing all over her, rocking her to her core. They never remain in one place long, squeezing her neck, sliding down her side, pressing against her back. She keeps mapping and remapping her body, and the reasoning comes too easy, Nile wishes it hadn’t: how long exactly has it been since Quynh touched someone? Was touched herself? How long since she was freed from her watery – 

Teeth sink into her neck, pain hot and quick as she heals fast. “Out of your head lovely.” 

She reaches up to touch, the wound already closed. Quynh sucks her fingers into her mouth. Her mind blanks out, desire overriding nearly all thought. All she knows is there’s no way in hell she’s fucking Quynh on the floor. 

Nile scoops her up, carries her to the little bed in the corner. 

“My hero,” Quynh purrs. 

She laughs, kissing the words from her lips. 

.

It isn’t until morning, redressing with a bounce in her step that Nile notices her dog tags are gone. Searches the small room fruitlessly, eyes landing on Quynh slowly waking up. 

“My dog tags are missing.” 

“And?” 

“You didn’t put them anywhere?” 

Her eyebrows come together, “No but we did jump out of an airplane –”

“I was pushed,” Nile corrects. 

“– maybe they flew off?” 

A suspicion she doesn’t like bubbles in her gut, only deepened when Quynh adds, “Blessing in disguise really. Faking your death was on the to-do list.” 

“Uh huh, lucky that.” 

Quynh stretches out on the cot, temptation in physical form. 

…Nile can get started on saving the world this afternoon. Or maybe tomorrow.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] this love will keep us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25903306) by [ffg_podfics (flowersforgraves)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/ffg_podfics)




End file.
